Mayberry Rules

Standard user rules are in effect for this forum, Off-Topic leniency for flaming does not apply here in Mayberry or anywhere else on the board. Violators will be permanently blocked and carded or banned accordingly.

Below is a link to the Sherdog User Rules and Contact thread. Everything listed below applies to Mayberry as well.

Copying and pasting large portions of copyrighted material is not allowed.

If you wish to make proper reference to websites, please use the headline of the desired blog post or article, along with proper attribution to the site and author, and direct the readers to the website (via link) to read the full blog post.

Over the years, Mayberry has served as the flip side to the "General Discussion" coin in relation to the Off-Topic sub-forum. The OT and Mayberry have always been two separate entities, with different posting concerns and different posting styles. In recent years, however, especially since the "old" OT was dumped and the General Discussion area got shuffled around, the lines separating the various sub-forums have been blurred to a problematic degree. In response, the currently active moderators have gotten together to outline a uniform policy in an effort to return Mayberry to its previous position of providing a haven for respectful and intelligent discussion.

THINGS TO AVOID WHEN POSTING IN MAYBERRY

- Flaming

This has always been the #1 rule of Mayberry and nothing has changed here.

- Empty Posting (including meme pics)

One of our goals is to have posting in Mayberry actually contribute to discussion. In the spirit of the Mayberry masthead's promise of "intelligent discussion," we would like to see posters who come into Mayberry do so with the intention of furthering discussions on various topics rather than posting frivolous garbage that only stalls or, at worst, tanks a thread. Empty Posting also refers to hijacking threads in order to conduct personal chats with another member or members while a legitimate discussion is going on around you. Take that to PMs.

- Graphic Sexual Posting

A comparatively recent development and a problem all across the board that we take very seriously. Don't do it.

- Call-Out Threads

Always been against the rules and nothing has changed here, either.

- Nothing Threads

No frivolous garbage like "What should I eat for lunch?" or crap like that. Again: Intelligent discussion.

- Joke Threads

If a certain thread or kind of thread becomes popular, don't start making similar threads just to be "funny." For example: Thread A, "Some girl slapped me today"; Thread B, "I slapped some guy today." Don't do crap like that. If you plan on starting a thread in Mayberry, do so with thought and care and with the intention of starting real discussion.

FINAL WORD

Lastly, a helpful rule of thumb for all Mayberry posters: If your post took you less than five seconds to come up with, put a little more thought into it before hitting "Submit Reply." In addition to intelligent discussion, the Mayberry masthead also promotes "light-hearted humor." However, "light-hearted" is not the same thing as stupid. Mayberry isn't the place to drop empty one-liners that don't further discussion and serve only to encourage other people to ignore thread topics and take to posting other silly shit that causes a thread to devolve into garbage humor with nothing to do with the original topic.

If you're just looking to let off steam and joke around with your fellow posters, that's what the OT is for. Additionally, for those posters who do not yet meet the 6 months and 300 posts requirements for posting in the OT, The Wasteland and The Dump should be your alternatives rather than Mayberry. In Mayberry, cut your humor with some thought and don't lose sight of the thread in which you are posting.

Of course, as with all of the rules here on Sherdog, this is all subject to the individual interpretation of the moderator in question, but in an effort to eliminate confusion, these are the main problem areas we have diagnosed in Mayberry and it's what we are going to be cracking down on in the future, and we hope you all will take this as seriously as we do.

Thank you to the Mayberry community for your cooperation in creating a more suitable environment for intelligent discussion.

I've already deleted four threads with links to that recent home invasion video that's been getting a lot of news play, but nobody seems to be taking the hint, so I figured I should state things in no uncertain terms for everybody here. Footage like that, including street fights and other random acts of violence caught on film and morbidly circulated ad nauseam, shouldn't be posted here. It has long been and still is Sherdog policy, and we ask that you remember that.